News / Local
Fraudster chooses jail over community service
24 Nov 2013 at 12:04hrs | Views
A former loan clerk at Stanbic Bank convicted of theft and fraud stunned a Bulawayo magistrate court when she chose to be jailed than perform community work saying she is used to her housemaid doing all the work.
Lucia Tutani Dube, 45, in Nkulumane high density suburb and a mother of two was hauled before the courts facing three counts of theft and one count of fraud and sentenced five months in prison for the offence.
Magistrate Gladmore Mushowe first slapped Dube with community service but she spurned the lighter sentence, preferring to be imprisoned.
Her lawyer stated that she is on medical condition therefore she cannot manage to do community service.
Beside the five months imprisonment, Dube is expected to pay a $200 fine.
The court heard Dube took advantage of her duties which included receiving loan applications from bank clients, processing them for approval and also depositing money for their loan repayments.
It is the State's case that on February 6, Dube received $220 from a client who had a loan with the bank and the money was for repayment of the loan.
Instead of Dube crediting the client's loan account with the bank, she deposited the cash into her friend's account Florence Musafani which she later withdrew and converted it to her own use.
On February 15, Dube received $292 from a client who also had a loan with the bank as repayment.
The court further heard Dube intentionally deposited the money into her friend's account Musafani before she later withdrew it.
On June 25, the accused repeated her con-trick when she received $105 from a client and deliberately credited the amount into her sister Hazie Sibanda's account.
Dube repeated further misappropriations on August 4, when she deposited a $113, 98 cheque from a client into her sister's account.
On the same day Dube attended a bank's client Mernard Shiri who had applied for $1 150 but later cancelled the loan application.
Aware that Shiri had cancelled his loan application Dube processed it and sent it to the management for approval.
She proceeded to withdraw the loan amount from the bank's account and converted it for personal use.
The offence was discovered when Shiri queried loan deductions from his account.
Lucia Tutani Dube, 45, in Nkulumane high density suburb and a mother of two was hauled before the courts facing three counts of theft and one count of fraud and sentenced five months in prison for the offence.
Magistrate Gladmore Mushowe first slapped Dube with community service but she spurned the lighter sentence, preferring to be imprisoned.
Her lawyer stated that she is on medical condition therefore she cannot manage to do community service.
Beside the five months imprisonment, Dube is expected to pay a $200 fine.
The court heard Dube took advantage of her duties which included receiving loan applications from bank clients, processing them for approval and also depositing money for their loan repayments.
It is the State's case that on February 6, Dube received $220 from a client who had a loan with the bank and the money was for repayment of the loan.
Instead of Dube crediting the client's loan account with the bank, she deposited the cash into her friend's account Florence Musafani which she later withdrew and converted it to her own use.
The court further heard Dube intentionally deposited the money into her friend's account Musafani before she later withdrew it.
On June 25, the accused repeated her con-trick when she received $105 from a client and deliberately credited the amount into her sister Hazie Sibanda's account.
Dube repeated further misappropriations on August 4, when she deposited a $113, 98 cheque from a client into her sister's account.
On the same day Dube attended a bank's client Mernard Shiri who had applied for $1 150 but later cancelled the loan application.
Aware that Shiri had cancelled his loan application Dube processed it and sent it to the management for approval.
She proceeded to withdraw the loan amount from the bank's account and converted it for personal use.
The offence was discovered when Shiri queried loan deductions from his account.
Source - dailynews
